Dr. Allen Van Deynze is the Director of Research at the Seed Biotechnology Center (SBC) at University of California, Davis. Allen received a BSc. and MSc. degree in Plant Sciences from the University of Manitoba, Canada and PhD in Plant Breeding from the University of Guelph, Canada. He did a post-doctorate in molecular genetics at the Department of Plant Breeding and Biometry, Cornell University. Allen worked as a Plant Breeder for Calgene Monsanto and Senior Scientist for Celera AgGen where he developed and implemented strategies to incorporate genomics and biotechnology into breeding programmes. As part of the SBC mission to serve as a liaison between public institutions and seed industry, Allen is responsible for developing, coordinating and conducting research and generating and disseminating scientific and informational content for the Seed Biotechnology Center educational and outreach programmes. His research focuses on developing and integrating genomics into plant breeding of California crops. He has programmes on cotton, lettuce, carrot, spinach, tomato, potato and particularly improving disease resistance and quality in pepper. He co-developed the Plant Breeding Academy with Dr. Kent Bradford, and is the organizer and instructor for the Plant Breeding Academy and also the former Chair of the US Plant Breeding Coordinating Committee. He has been involved in International and National policy including working on Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and US Regulations for Biotechnology. He is also the Scientific Co-leader for the African Orphan Crops Consortium.